Between the United States and China, the general trend is currently towards trade confrontation. Despite several months of discussions, both parties still have not been able to reach a real agreement. On the contrary: customs duties retaliations have come one after the other on either side under the boomerang effect of the new restrictive customs policy demanded by Donald Trump, who thereby intends to reduce the US vast trade deficit vis-à-vis China and asks, in passing, major structural changes likely to disrupt China’s economic model. The consequences of this escalation worry markets and economists.
Whereas the probability that this situation worsens further has quite evidently increased in recent months, the trajectory of this unprecedented crisis raises questions. Indeed, besides economic effects – which are major – the current trade confrontation between Washington and Beijing turns out to carry much larger power rivalry issues, the impact of which needs to be assessed. Confrontation for leadership, United States’ drive to maintain its technological supremacy, handing over the reins to the regional “hegemon” that China could be in Asia; the deep motives of this trade war refer to the new global (un)balances materialising as a result of China’s rise in power.
Through this conference, we wish to put the essential issue of strategic competition between China and the United States – and, even more, the issue of its consequences for Europe – at the core of the reflection. In order to grasp the structuring parameters of this issue, we have invited Prof. Dr. André Sapir and Prof. Dr. Tanguy Struye de Swielande, who will respectively address the causes and consequences of the on-going escalation at geoeconomic and geostrategic level, and compare the influence of each power, highlighting thereby their respective strengths and weaknesses in a mid- to long-term perspective.
Evening conference
US-China Relations under the Trump Administration: Europe Caught in a Trap?
Prof. Dr. André SAPIR
Prof. Dr. Tanguy STRUYE DE SWIELANDE
Moderator : Nicolas GOSSET
Language : French
Simultaneous translation into Dutch and English
24 October 2019, 17:00 – 18:30
> 16:30 – Registration
> 17:00 – Conference
> 18:00 – Reception
Campus Renaissance
Rue Hobbema, 8
1000 Brussels
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